In an unprecedented and tragic turn of events, Morocco was struck by a devastating magnitude 6.8 earthquake just last week, marking one of the most lethal natural disasters the country has witnessed in over six decades. The calamity claimed the lives of at least 2,800 individuals and left over 2,500 injured, casting a somber shadow over the nation.
While earthquakes typically arise along the juncture where two tectonic plates interact, Morocco’s seismic activities primarily occur along the convergence of the African and Eurasian plates. However, the epicenter of this recent catastrophe defied convention, situated in al-Haouz province amidst the majestic High Atlas Mountains, a considerable distance of 75 kilometers (47 miles) southwest of Marrakesh, Morocco’s fourth-largest city.
This unprecedented event has left scientists and geologists pondering its origins. The prevailing theory attributes the earthquake to a reverse fault, a geological phenomenon where the rock edge on one side of a fault slides beneath the other. In this instance, the Morocco and Iberia microplates, both components of the larger African plate, experienced such a reverse fault.
Marques Figueiredo, an expert in active and neotectonics, elucidates that these reverse tectonic faults are typically situated to the north of the Atlas Mountains, gradually descending towards them. During the earthquake, the section facing the mountains shifted over the other, causing an uplifting of the mountainside. Over centuries, this event resulted from accumulated tension between the African and Eurasian plates.
Paula Marques Figueiredo explained, “The faults can only withstand the stress for so long, and periodically, after thousands of years, an earthquake occurs as a mechanism to release the built-up stress.”
Seismologist Remy Bossu predicts that aftershocks may persist for weeks before seismic activity levels revert to normal. Mehdi Zare, a professor at the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology in Tehran, delves into the intricacies of the Earth’s crust movement. He distinguishes between two levels of movement—one closer to the surface and another deeper within. The ensuing slipping and folding action is “decollement,” a term originating from the French word meaning “to detach or peel from.”
Mehdi Zare elucidates, “There is a shallow decollement surface at depths ranging from 1 to 4 kilometers (0.6 to 2.5 miles) within the tertiary layers, and a deeper decollement within the middle crust, approximately 10 to 20 kilometers (6.2 to 12.4 miles) beneath the surface in this area.” The decollements were most likely initiated at the deeper level and propagated toward the surface, given the depth of the earthquake’s epicenter.
The catastrophic earthquake in Morocco remains a poignant reminder of the Earth’s unpredictability and the need for ongoing research to comprehend better and mitigate such devastating natural phenomena.
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